And yet I was overlooked for the Birmingham Magazine cover on the city's most beautiful people. *Shakes fist.*

OK, sorry for being away for a while. Like I said before, it's actually been quite hectic at the office, and intense yard work has filled much of my other free time. The good news is, we've finished clearing our amazingly overgrown fenceline, and a crew is supposed to be out today to start building our new wooden fence. Yay!

In other news, my professional mentor and three-time boss, Rich Somerville, is on the cover of the Humboldt County alternative paper this week. Click here to check out the article.

Rich has been named editor of The Times-Standard in Eureka, Calif. It's a highly competitive news environment, and I'm sure he'll kick quite a bit of ass.

Just to recap, Rich and I go back a long way. When he was a grad student at New Directions for News, he hired me to be a research assistant, despite the fact I looked like a shaggy-headed Phish concert reject. Two years later, I hired him as the adviser for my student paper, The Maneater. In 2003, he hired me again to be city editor at The Union in Grass Valley, Calif., where he had been editor for six months or so. After we both had left The Union last year, he hired me yet again to be a consultant with his new venture, Media Foresight Associates.

As far as I know, I'm no longer on his payroll, but we obviously remain close.

I thought this article turned out pretty well, though I was a bit surprised that they let his critics be quoted anonymously. I'm sure they could have found some journalistic dreg to trash talk him on the record, but their spinelessness actually makes him sound even better.

I'm excited for Rich and his paper, because I've seen what he can accomplish with a good team. But if he overworks himself to a heart attack, I'll personally fly out there and slap the crap out of him. (There's yer warning, buddy.)